Life to Its Fullest
by Zeth Dankera
Summary: Al and Ed are being held at an abandoned warehouse and Ed is being tortured for Al's sake. One of them is going to die. I suck at deathfic summaries so far. Deathficish, rated T for blood and angst and swearing.
1. Death

Mesa no own fma.

* * *

It burned.

Stung.

Pain clouded my vision.

So much blood.

Another knife cut.

This one close to my neck.

It dug in, scraping the bone.

I screamed.

My cracked voice piercing the night.

Al was next to me.

He saw it all as I was tortured.

I never wanted him to watch this, never wanted him to have to see me be in pain for him.

They had been holding us hostage for a while, torturing me for the information that Al wouldn't give them about his body. Before only Al had been here, and since they couldn't torture him without possibly killing him, they set out to find someone who was dear to him, and that was how I was brought here, to this abandoned hangar in the middle of nowhere. No military police would think to look out here; we were so far away from Central, in between the Eastern HQ and Central. It was the optimum place for hiding a dog of the military.

I sagged in the chair that they had me tied in. I had been looking for Al as soon as he had disappeared, and I ended up here after I received a tip from a woman at the police station. She had looked kind enough, until she knocked me unconscious and kidnapped me to here. Now I was here, breathing raggedly and losing way too much blood. I wouldn't let them know. I didn't want them to know how Al had become the way he was. The Philosopher's Stone was a part of him, and they wanted to know how it was made and how he had acquired his body. I couldn't let them know any of that. None of it whatsoever.

My blood had pooled around me, numerous cuts brushing up against the rough rope that they had tied me in. My shirt had long been taken off, exposing my automail arm. Now it glinted in the dim candlelight, reflecting my bloodstained face. My left arm throbbed; the knife had completely pierced the muscle, rendering it useless. My stomach was the worst. It had been stabbed at; luckily the person who was torturing me was keeping me alive and wasn't aiming at my vital areas. But that didn't stop the blood from pouring out, or the pain from coursing through my body. Pain… It was a good thing in a way. It let you know that you were alive. But I didn't know if I was going to be alive after this. It didn't matter too much to me, as long as these bastards didn't learn the secrets of the Philosopher's Stone.

I heard Al gasp as he looked at my body from beside me. Some blood had splattered on his helmet, making it look like he was the one being tortured. I tried to turn away from him, try to protect him from the horror of what had been done to me. But the ropes only burned even more on my wounds.

I hissed in annoyance and pain, and instead turned my head away. I shouldn't have done that. The torturer came over to where I was tied up and tilted my head farther away from my brother. I tried to resist, but I was weak from the loss of blood. I felt the blade of the knife, only partially cleaned of blood, lie on my neck, right where the artery that led to my head was. I stiffened. I heard Al gasp from beside me, heard him say, "Nii-san… Nii-san…."

I felt the blade press against that one vital spot, slowly, as if the blade reveled in the pain that it was causing me. This was actually nothing compared to what had already been done to me, but it hurt anyways. I could feel it press harder, and then it cut into the artery, my blood pouring out of my neck. The torturer stopped, took the blade out of my neck and licked my blood from the blade itself. I shuddered, causing more blood to go out of my neck and dribble down my shoulders and onto my back. I let my head fall, I was so tired. Almost no blood remained in my system.

Though my hazy eyes I could just barely make out my attacker as he walked towards me with pronounced slowness. I could barely hear Al as he shouted my name and asked me to wake up. I realized that my eyes had closed. Then I drifted into darkness…

(Al's POV)

I watched as Ed's head drooped and his eyes closed. He was deathly pale, and blood was dripping from his wounds and was on the floor in a small puddle. The cut on his neck had only barely pierced the artery, and I knew that if it was cut any deeper, he would die from loss of blood. I couldn't let that happen, not to brother.

The torturer slowly walked forward, the blade glinting with dried blood in the dim light. He got closer to Ed, who was already asleep. Or dea-

No he wasn't dead! "WAKE UP ED! ED! WAKE UP!" I screamed, my voice cracking even though I had no vocal chords that would fail on me. Something inside of me cracked, and it didn't feel good. I stopped, my breath coming out raggedly, even though I had no lungs to breathe with. Something was wrong.

The man came closer to Ed. I knew that I couldn't let him die, so I did the one thing that Ed had told me not to do. I screamed,

"STOP, I'LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW!"

And it worked. The man stopped and looked at me, his teeth flashing aged yellow in the dim light.

He cleaned the knife with a dirty rag and sheathed it. Then he came over to me and dragged me to the light source where the woman was waiting also.

"So, kid, tell us how to create the Philosopher's Stone and how to bond a soul."

So I told them.

Everything.

(Ed's POV)

I woke up, stiff. It took me a while to adjust to the light that was around me. I lifted my head up, but that proved to be a bad idea. My head throbbed at the sudden rush, and a scab on my neck itched. Then I remembered what had happened last night. Why wasn't I dead then? I had thought for sure that that was the end for me. I looked across the room to see Al and the woman who had captured me conversing. I saw Al draw a circle on the ground, demonstrating something to her. It took me a while to see what the drawing was. Then I saw it. It was the Grand Arcanum.

I tried to yell out at Al, to ask what he was doing. But my voice wouldn't respond. I was too sluggish and tired. I looked down at the wounds that had healed up during the night. They itched like crazy, and some of them had healed so that they were attached to the ropes that bound me. I started to consciously breathe, inhaling and exhaling, trying to figure out a way to get out of here. Then the man who had tortured me last night loomed in my face. I flinched, causing more pain to course through my body. Then the man began to speak, his voice low.

"You know, the mistress over there is going to kill him soon. And you won't be able to do anything about it."

My heart stopped. Not Al. Not Al, take me instead. Don't kill him. HE DOESN'T DESERVE IT IF ANYONE DOES I DO!

I wanted to warn Al as I saw the lady take a dagger out from her dress. I wanted to scream for him to run, to leave and get out of harm's way. But I couldn't. All I could do is watch silently as the dagger plunged through the back of his armor and into his seal. I could only listen as he screamed; a bloodcurdling sound. I could only feel as his armor thudded against the ground. I couldn't do anything, except have tears stream silently down my face before I blacked out again.

I woke up this time with a pistol in my face. I knew what was coming, and I accepted it. Last night I had had dreams about Al, dreams where he asked me why I couldn't have saved him. I knew that this was the only way for me to right the wrongs that I had done. This was my only way of repentance for the sins that I had committed.

I was still sleepy, and I didn't notice the person who was pointing the gun. Then I looked at the clothes. They were a blue color. Then I recognized the military ranks on the shoulder. One of the military had come here to imprison me and question me for why I had run away from Liore. I stared him defiantly in the eyes. _Let this golden stare_ _haunt him forever,_ I though mercilessly. I waited for him to shoot, until I realized that he was speaking to me. Immediately I tried to listen, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. Then I noticed a car come towards the building, and that's when I saw Al's armor. I tried to not let the tears well up inside of me, but I couldn't out on the same face that I had before when I was having automail surgery. They fell, falling onto my wounds and making the pain worse. But that didn't matter. He was gone, and there was nothing I could do. So I let the tears fall, let the pain commence, and let myself grieve.

The people that were in the car that had pulled up came out. I looked up to see Colonel Mustang walk out with a determined look on his face. He was probably thinking that he would find us here all safe, only minor injuries. He probably didn't expect to see Al's armor on the ground, his blood seal destroyed.

He walked in, looking around at the surroundings. First thing he saw was me, bleeding and pale. I saw his eyes wide with shock as he saw the pool of blood around me and my injuries. He quickly walked over to me, but tripped on Al in the process. I saw him look down, a confused look on his face. But when he saw the back of his armor, he flinched, gasping. Then he looked at me and I felt the tears flow down my face silently again.

He stood up again, his hair hiding his eyes. I couldn't even guess how he was feeling. He probably was angry at those insane kidnappers.

Mustang started to walk towards me, an air of command surrounding him. The other officers who were gathered around, including the one in front of me, turned around to see who had arrived that was so important.

Roy still walked forwards, until he was standing in front of me. Tears still streamed down my face as he observed me like I was an animal. I waited for him to say some remark, some comment, something. My face was lowered, and I lifted my head up so that I could confront him, ask him what he was going to say, when I noticed that he was crying also. A single tear streamed down his face, dripping onto his uniform. I just looked on, unsure of what to do, while I cried also. He snapped, and the roped around me were burned in half from the back. I remained where I was, however. I couldn't get up. I was still too weak to do anything of use. Just like I was when Al was killed.

I cried even harder until my shoulders were shaking, causing me even more pain. Some of the ropes were still on me, stuck to where my blood had clotted around it. I pulled them off weakly, not caring about the pain. Eventually they were all taken off, and I still just sat there.

Mustang was still there. Another tear had joined the one from before. With some difficulty, I raised my right arm, the only one that would work. The human part of me was too exhausted to do anything. Mustang took it and helped me up. One of the military personnel had found my cloak, and handed it to the Colonel, who wrapped it around me.

He guided me to the ambulance that had arrived (I hadn't noticed it before). I took shaky steps towards it; I had lost more blood than was possible. I was about halfway when I fell. The place where I fell was where Al's armor was.

I stared down at the empty helmet, looking for a trace of the red glow that had once lived there before. But there was none. An image flashed through my head, a picture of when Al was still in his human body. It was before we had attempted the transmutation.

The transmutation was my fault. And Al had had to suffer because of me. It was my wrong that I had intended to amend, but I had failed him. It was my own fault that he was in there in the first place and now he was gone because of me.

I felt the tears drip from my face to his helmet. I whispered, "I'm sorry… Al… I just couldn't… save you… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

I kept on repeating those two words until they pulled me away and put me in the ambulance in a stretcher. They put a mask on my mouth to give me extra oxygen while I stared into the distance, with my eyes crying silent tears. Hughes was in the ambulance with me, watching me with watery eyes. No one had said anything to me yet, but I knew what they were thinking. They thought that I didn't want to talk about what had happened. They also knew that going off on other topics wouldn't draw me away from the event. I didn't care. Al was gone, and I didn't do anything to save him.

I drifted off into unconsciousness as I still cried silent tears. Tears for Al.

Because he had never had the chance to experience life to its fullest.

* * *

Anyone want another chapter? IF i get five reviews saying yes then i will make a sequel chapter to this. For now its a oneshot.

Oh yah at the end when ed trips over al's body he is looking down in the same posistion as sasuke and naruto after their battle (if any of you naruto fans know what i mean)


	2. Realization

Life to Its Fullest Chapter 2

Ed lay on the hospital bed, and Roy Mustang could still see the tears on his cheeks from crying in his sleep. Hughes was there too, sitting next to Ed's side. Ed himself was covered heavily in bandaged, and an IV was in his left arm, along with a bag of blood that was also hooked up to him. He was pale and sweaty, his breathing shallow. He almost looked like he was on the brink of death, if not for the fact that he only had lost a major amount of blood. The doctors had said that he would be alright after a while, but then they had other people to attend to, and there wasn't really anything that they could do for him.

'_He could just die in his sleep.' _One of the female doctors had said. '_We aren't able to do anything for him, so we'll let one of your men watch over him for a while until we can say whether or not he'll live.'_

To Mustang that sounded like the most pathetic explanation for leaving a child alone, especially one that could die. He stood in the doorway, watching Ed as he slept fitfully. Maes signaled to him to go outside with him for a while. Roy nodded silently, not wanting to wake Ed up from his sleep. Once outside of his room, Hughes shut the door a little too firmly for Roy's liking.

"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Maes asked in a low voice.

"It bothers me how the doctors and nurses just left Ed alone like that, like they didn't even care if he was to die and they wouldn't be there. Something's definitely going on here."

Maes nodded. He had had his suspicions but wasn't sure that the others would notice. Apparently Roy had, something he knew that his friend would have said something about if it was a major concern.

"Maybe they found out that Ed did human transmutation, which could have sowed some animosity. Maybe the doctors were ordered to not give him any special attention unless if they wanted to be reported for being with a criminal." Roy said.

"But if that was the case, wouldn't they still have someone care for him since they would have put him on a death row anyways."

"I'll have to look into this back at HQ. They might have someone who-'

"I'll check it out."

Roy looked at Maes, surprised. "Why would you want to do that? You know what might happen if you are caught snooping around for information that might be covered up."

"Exactly. You need to get to the top someday, and how are you going to get there if you aren't trusted by other military personnel?"

Roy looked at Maes in the eyes, scared for what might happen. "Maes…"

"I'll start snooping around then. See ya!" He walked off with a smile and a happy gait. Roy couldn't help but smirk.

_I'm on a desolated field._

_There's a hangar to my left._

_It's burning with fire and smoke is shrouding it._

_I know that Alphonse is in there._

_I run towards it._

"_Al!" I scream._

_He comes rushing out of the building._

_His armor is red hot with fire._

_I hug him tightly as my skin begins to burn off._

"Alphonse!" Edward Elric yelled as he sat abruptly up in his bed. Sharp pain greeted him in his stomach as he strained to stay up.

Colonel Mustang eyed him from the chair opposite from Ed's bed.

Edward noticed him and immediately asked him, "Where's Al!"

Then, everything came back in a rush.

"_Come this way sir, your brother is right around the corner…"_

"_You didn't expect that we'd ever let this go, now would you?"_

"_Tell me, how do you create a philosopher's stone?"_

"_You know, the mistress there is about to kill him. He's no use to us anymore."_

"_We need the stone anyways."_

"_As long as he's alive we won't be able to get it."_

_Ed heard the sharp sound of steel piercing through steel._

Ed covered his ears. The sound kept on replaying in his mind. Over and over the ear piercing and alarming sound replayed. That one moment that he couldn't be there for his brother…

_Alphonse's screams tore through his ears._

Those screams of agony as the seal was broken.

I

t

W

a

s

A

l

l

E

d

'

s

F

A

U

L

T.

**A/N**

I have returned from the dead! *gasps like a fish*

Oh and this was already half finished when I found it…

DON'T KILL Me!

I'll update again soon just wanted to make a cliffy here. *grins evilly*

Sorry but it seemed like the perfect time to make you guys wait in suspense!

Oh and I redid the last part it was with Roy and Ed crying together so I edited it out cause it was totally OOCness… dunno how the heck that got in there….

And this contains Parental!Roy ! Not RoyEd, got it?

(Although the first version that I just redid seems to have been RoyEd… Aye carumba….)

Anywho, please review and tell me what I should do or just any comments or tips on writng.

Thanks!


End file.
